Seeking deals in the Netherlands & UK | SMBs ready for a software push

Hey everyone, As I embark on the journey of a searcher, thought I should share my story here for anyone who resonates or (and) can contribute, I'd be very happy to connect. I have a background in technology, specifically with helping startups and small businesses to develop a very strong foundation of modern software. This looks like adapting a cloud provider at the base and building abstraction layers of a platform to connect all the third party tools and services, on top of which all the business logic is built and served to the customer. This entire stack is supported by a data platform which serves as the primary navigation tool for the business. Nothing beats the feeling of releasing software multiple times a day directly into the hands of someone who benefits from it. My ideation is based on a few common patterns that I have observed within such businesses over the years, 1. Disconnected Systems and Data Silos SMBs often use a variety of software solutions (CRM, ERP, Payments) that don't talk to each other, and this leads to disparity of business logic. With a lightweight platform, all of this can be easily centralized. This greatly improves the overall experience of not only working with the product but revenue optimizations with less errors and happier customers. 2. Manual Operations I have nothing against spreadsheets, but this is more more about adding automation layers confined within domains so that workflows are more straightforward. Think RPA based and self serve tooling. 3. Lack of Real Time Business Intelligence Not having this is like driving in the snow with a broken set of windshield vipers. Having an ETL pipeline and an analytics platform can really give visibility towards things like revenue per customer segment, margin per product etc 4. Poor ops infrastructure Releasing software to the customers is often a painful process, whereas the tech has evolved for this to be an iterative process with releasing several times a day without drastic failures. All of this while saving costs and having strong security within the cloud. 5. Underutilized third party APIs Having an abstracted layer of third party integrations that could benefit the business workflow. Think of all the jargon around AI and LLMs, you inject those right into the business with an abstracted layer (or maybe even into the platform). Modal context protocol, that has blown up lately, also fits right here. 6. Inconsistent Customer Experience Everything around post sales engagement, either support or maintainability can be simplified with self serve portals or dashboards. Saving huge ton of manual overhead and delivering the best in class customer experience. 7. Software Stack Costs Poor infrastructure choices can often lead to money bleeding into machines, either due to lack of observability or sub optimal environments. Using cloud solutions smartly may greatly help here. There definitely could be more such bottlenecks. If you know of any businesses where solving these kinds of challenges could be a game changer, I’d love to hear about them. I have already been looking at Brookz and dealopportunities, but I am very much open for other sources, direct contact with businesses or even brokers who can help in. Happy to chat here, or feel free to reach out to me on linkedin, always open to connect!